Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Scavenge the Stars

Author: Tara Sim

Book Series: Scavenge the Stars Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: POC and LGBT characters!

Publication Date: January 7, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (Language, suicide TW, child slavery TW, human trafficking TW, gambling, and abuse TW)

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 336

Amazon Link

Synopsis: When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her a longer sentence on the debtor ship where she’s been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide.

Amaya wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception—and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she’s plotting to bring down—the more she uncovers about the truth of her past. And the more she realizes she must trust no one…

Packed with high-stakes adventure, romance, and dueling identities, this gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo is the first novel in an epic YA fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Sabaa Tahir, and Leigh Bardugo.

Review: So I’ve never read The Count of Monte Cristo and as of right now I don’t have the desire but DANG I was in a mood to read it while I was reading this book. This book was highly imaginative and it set the sails high (get it? Get it?... okay fine). I loved the pirate setting and I loved how fierce the main character was. She wasn’t like other girls (no seriously, not a meme this time), she was already self assured in her own body and identity, she didn’t need to discover who she truly was on the inside… just what the heck happened to her a long long time ago. I also liked how the book didn’t shy away from hard topics. The characters were all really well developed and the world building was absolutely amazing. And all jokes aside, while the book isn’t strictly a pirate book, it does have a lot of high seas elements in it that it did satisfy my need for more pirates. I even listened to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack while reading this book!

The only downside I had of the book is that some of the sections are a bit slower, as the POV switches between two characters, and all of the names and such can be a bit confusing at times.

Verdict: I highly recommend this swashbuckling read! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!